"The subject of photographer Whitney Browne's new book, Candy Store, is, foremost, Ray Alvarez's iconic shop on Avenue A, Ray's Candy Store. But it's also about the East Village neighborhood, it's a salute to the endurance of a small business owner who has endured economic and health crises, and Browne says, it's a tribute to who I was at that time."
"I had crazy insomnia, she continues. I would wander around at night, and I just wanted something to do. I knew Ray's was open, and I could walk in and work behind the counter. I would fill in when he was sick, and he would call me when he needed me. He offered to pay me, but I said no, I just really liked doing it."
Candy Store centers on Ray Alvarez's iconic Ray's Candy Store on Avenue A and on the East Village neighborhood. Ray Alvarez opened the tiny, 24-hour shop in 1974 and continues to work the graveyard shift at age 91. Whitney Browne began frequenting the shop in 2006, learned to make egg creams, and volunteered behind the counter during late nights driven by insomnia. A former assistant received a Hasselblad and brought medium-format color negative film to document the hand-written signs, customers, and late-night atmosphere. The work serves as a tribute to small-business endurance through economic and health crises and to Browne's own personal moment.
Read at www.amny.com
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